This
is an extremely important release for two reasons. Firstly,
it contains the first-ever recording of the first work for
chorus and orchestra composed by Herbert Howells. Secondly,
it brings to the catalogue a fine new performance of Howells’ supreme
masterpiece, and one of the finest of all English choral
works, Hymnus Paradisi.

My
colleague, John France, has already written in detail and
with much enthusiasm about SirPatrick Spens and I can do no better
than refer readers to his comments about a work that this
CD has brought to life for me, as it did for him. In brief,
the piece, which is a setting of an old Scots ballad, was
written in 1917 but was not immediately performed. Indeed,
Andrew Burn tells us in his very informative notes, that
it was not until 1926 that the work was published. It then
received a solitary performance in 1930 and, so far as is
known, lay unperformed and in complete obscurity until this
present recording. However, Paul Spicer states in his 1998
biography of the composer that it was one of the pieces that
Howells chose to submit for his B. Mus. Degree at Oxford
in 1934. Intriguingly, in his 1992 book on Howells, Christopher
Palmer reproduces a list of works by Howells that the composer
himself drew up in 1919 and in this he lists two settings
of the ballad, the present one and another for four solo
voices, string quartet and piano. Whether that smaller-scale
setting has survived and whether the two versions share common
musical material I do not know.

Perhaps
it’s also worth quoting Howells himself on the subject of
the choral/orchestral setting. Palmer reproduces an extract
from an interview that Howells gave to the periodical, The
Music Teacher, in December 1922. in which he commented
thus: “The setting of Sir Patrick Spens, for baritone
solo, chorus and orchestra, was done with a main intention
of getting through the narrative with as great a saving of
time as can ever be effected where music makes an attempt
at saddling itself on words ….. I wanted to set Sir Patrick with
the best possible attempt at this essential swiftness of
action; … .All my tunes therefore have the directness of
simple folktunes; the choral technique is founded on the
need for swift action; there is no word-repetition, and very
little suggestion of anything approaching contrapuntal treatment.
The voices are concerned with directness and speed in conveying
the narrative; the vividness and suggestions of more purely
musical sorts are left to the orchestra. The setting takes
16 minutes to sing.” (Christopher Palmer: Herbert Howells
- A Centenary Celebration. (London, 1992), pp 438-9).

From
reading the above you might get the impression that the piece
is pretty breathless and dramatic, and you’d be right. The
fact that this recorded performance takes a bit longer than
Howells’ estimate – remember, he’d not heard it in performance
at the time he wrote those remarks – is irrelevant. The piece
is an astonishing feat of musical compression. The poem runs
to twenty-six short four-line stanzas and, as Howells suggests,
the action fairly flies by. As Andrew Burn points out, he
had written nothing on such a scale up to that point and
what impresses right from the start is the assurance and
boldness with which Howells handles his forces. It may be
a piece of relatively short duration but it’s in all other
respects a Big Piece.

Burn
proposes that Howells’ model was The Revenge by his
teacher, Stanford, a work that has itself achieved a first
recording recently. Having heard both pieces I would
have to say that Sir Patrick Spens strikes me as the
more interesting work. For all Howells’ relative inexperience
he shows the greater individuality, the greater sense of
drama, the greater dynamism. In a nutshell, his is the more
exciting piece. It also owes a considerable debt to Vaughan
Williams’ then-recent Sea Symphony – and why not?
Having just spent several months rehearsing and performing Sea
Symphony I’m perhaps more conscious than I would otherwise
be of the extent to which Howells’ piece breathes the same
air. But one thing should be said: by the time Sea Symphony appeared
Vaughan Williams already had behind him an appreciable, if
shorter, Whitman setting for chorus and orchestra in the
shape of Toward the Unknown Region. Howells had no
such precursor, which makes SirPatrick Spens all
the more remarkable.

One
could probably unpick the work and find passages where the
musical seams show. I’ll leave that to other, more expert
judges. It’s obviously an early work when compared to the
mature masterpiece that sits beside it on this CD and at
first hearing the sound-world of Hymnus seems a long
way away. But listen a little more closely and perhaps that’s
not the case. For example, the passage for baritone with
unaccompanied chorus behind him, “For I ha’e brought as much
white money” (4:47 – 5:30) contains, to my ears, definite
pre-echoes of Hymnus. Later in the piece, when the
storm erupts around the ship in which Spens and his men are
voyaging, Howells may orchestrate somewhat thickly but the
sounds he conjures up are vivid and exciting and the music
has genuine dramatic impetus and bite.

For
me, he saves the best till last. The last five stanzas depict
the mourning for Spens and his crew, chiefly by their womenfolk
(from 12:58). Forget influences of Stanford, Vaughan Williams
or anyone else. These paragraphs are pure, unadulterated
Howells. Perhaps not yet the Howells of Hymnus, but
still a genuine, eloquent musical craftsman who knows what
he wants to say and how he wants to say it and one who is
capable of writing music of genuine feeling.

The
piece receives a committed, dashing performance. Roderick
Williams, as the eponymous hero, sings with his customary
distinction. It will be noted that, in writing of the piece,
Howells referred only to the baritone soloist. Perhaps he
intended that the other two soloists should be drawn from
the choir. If so, James Gilchrist, as the crew member with
a premonition of doom, represents luxury casting. He sings
very well and Katy Butler makes a favourable impression with
her short but important – and high-lying – solo. David Hill
whips up a real storm with his conducting and inspires the
choir and orchestra to perform fervently. Realistically,
I doubt Sir Patrick Spens will ever become established
as a repertoire piece but its utter neglect up to now is
unjustifiable and it deserves to be much better known. This
splendid first recording gives it an excellent chance of
proper appreciation at long last.

Hymnus
Paradisi, by contrast, is one
of Howells’s best-known works. In my opinion this visionary
masterpiece ranks with Gerontius and a handful of
others in the pantheon of truly great English choral works.
I came to know it some forty years ago through another
recording by the Bach Choir, the very first recording made
of it, conducted by Sir David Willcocks for EMI. I found
that it yielded its secrets only gradually but it was worth
persevering for this is a work of great richness and feeling.
Whenever I listen to it I feel that this is music that had to
be written – and, of course, as we know, the piece was
Howells’ way of working out some of his grief at the tragic
death in childhood of his son, Michael. Returning to the
Willcocks recording for comparisons I’ve been forcefully
reminded of its stature. The sound is full-blooded, as
was EMI’s wont at that time (1970) and Willcocks obtained
passionate playing from the New Philharmonia and singing
of equal commitment from his choir. He also scores over
all the other recordings I’ve heard. by using what was
then his “other” choir, King’s College, Cambridge, as the
semi-chorus and the contrast between their timbre and that
of the main chorus is telling. As soloists Willcocks has
the wonderful Heather Harper and also Robert Tear, happily
caught in the days before his voice developed the wide
vibrato that made him unattractive to my ears.

This
new Naxos is a very strong competitor. The choir and orchestra
are more set back from the microphones in comparison with
the EMI recording and many will prefer that more natural
concert hall perspective. The choir sings very well indeed
for David Hill and the orchestra plays very well. Howells’ textures
are often very complex and one sometime strains to hear details
but even so I must say that I thought the BSO violins sounded
a bit underpowered at times. One way in which the Naxos recording
beats the EMI version is by achieving a much better – but
not unnatural - separation between the two choirs in the
passages where Howells divides his chorus.

Hill
has two very good soloists. Claire Rutter has a most demanding
part to deliver – Howells requires his soprano to soar ecstatically
for long stretches at a time – and she does very well indeed.
I hear a wider vibrato than Heather Harper employs but not
to any degree that troubles me. She certainly has the power
to ride the huge climaxes but she’s also sensitive in the
many quieter, more reflective stretches of the work. James
Gilchrist is an admirable partner for her. His clear, often
plangent tone is well suited to the music, nowhere more so
than in the fifth movement, ‘I heard a voice from heaven’.
I like his voice every time I hear it and here once again
he sings with his usual taste and refinement but, like Miss
Rutter, he has sufficient power, and a touch of steel, in
his voice to be able to assert himself at climactic moments.
Just once does he display fallibility. Towards the very end,
just after cue 74 in the vocal score, Howells gives the tenor
an unreasonably long line to sing at a slow tempo on the
word “Alleluia”. Perhaps not surprisingly Gilchrist needs
to take a breath before the last two sustained notes of the
phrase but it’s such a pity to break up the phrase. When
I turned to the Willcocks recording. I found that Tear’s
lungs also are defeated by Howells’s demands here and he
takes a breath at the same point but he adopts a much better
solution. He breaks the phrase into two separate “alleluias” rather
than, as Gilchrist does, breaking and resuming the one word.
It’s a small blemish indeed in a fine performance by Gilchrist;
unfortunately it comes at a telling juncture in the score.

But
if that’s the only criticism I have of this performance – and
it is – then it most certainly shouldn’t stand in the way
of an unqualified recommendation of this new recording of
this great work. David Hill quite clearly has the measure
of the score and he inspires his performers to transcend
the many difficulties that it contains and to deliver a performance
that burns with conviction, not just in the many Big Moments
but also in this radiant work’s profusion of sublimely beautiful
passages. As the last glowing bars die away quietly at the
end of this performance one senses that one has had a rather
special artistic experience and that’s as it should be after
hearing Hymnus Paradisi.

All
admirers of Howells will be grateful to Naxos for letting
us hear Sir Patrick Spens at long last. They should
be equally grateful for a dedicated and eloquent performance
of Hymnus Paradisi. This distinguished release is
an undoubted feather in the Naxos cap.

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